The present invention pertains to providing a wire cover for electronic equipment that protects and covers cords, cables or wires that are associated with electronic equipment placed on the shelving system. More particularly, the invention pertains to a wire cover for an electronic equipment stand or other piece of furniture.
Electronic equipment is generally located or placed on some type of shelving system, stand, or desk so that it is at a convenient height to operate and use. Electronic equipment includes items such as stereos, DVD players, compact disc players, speakers, tape decks, receivers, VCRs, televisions, video game players, computers, printers, or monitors. Electronic equipment generally requires either cords, cables, or wires to operate properly. The cords, cables, or wires provide electrical power to the equipment or interconnects one piece of equipment to another. This typically results in the cords, cables, or wires extending out of the back of the shelving system, desk, or stand that the electronic equipment is placed upon.
The shelving system, desk, or stand may be placed along a wall confining the cords between the stand and the wall. Alternatively, the shelving system, desk, or stand may be in a more open area leaving the cords exposed. Either way, the cables or cords can create the potential of a safety hazard for someone to trip over as well as being visually unappealing. Exposed electrical or interconnection wires or cables from electronic equipment can create a safety hazard to adults, infants, and the equipment itself. First, the wires become a hazard to people. Wires extending out from the shelving system are easy to trip over or become intertwined with, resulting in injury to the person. Another safety hazard is that the protruding wires are readily accessible to infants and toddlers, especially when the stand is placed in a more open area where the cords are exposed. The infants or toddlers may bite or pull on the wires resulting in injuries. In this case, the injuries can be very severe such as electric shock, or the child may pull the piece of equipment off of the shelf.
The extruding wires may become intertwined with each other creating a hazard when one or more of the pieces of the electronic equipment are removed from the shelving system. Injury or damage may occur when the wires of a piece of electronic equipment are intertwined with another piece of electronic equipment that is being moved. The intertwined pieces of equipment may be on the same or different shelf or even on different stands at other locations. Moving the piece of electronic equipment may cause the other pieces of equipment to fall and result in injury to the person moving the equipment, a bystander or the equipment itself. Damage to the electronic equipment include bent or broken connection pins or points, loss of equipment function or physical damage.
Whether placed along a wall or in a more open view, an array of wires which typically extend out of and run along the back of the shelving system is not visually appealing. A mass of wires existing behind an otherwise clean, dramatic appearing stand significantly detracts from the appearance of the shelving system.
Various techniques have attempted to address these problems. One technique is to create a wire channel with a boxed profile along a back surface of the shelving system and then place a top across the otherwise open box. The box can either be routed out of the material comprising the back of the shelving system or can be attached to the back of the shelving system. The box can be made out of any suitable material. The top is then placed over the open box to enclose it. This technique, however, is labor intensive and cost prohibitive.
Other techniques such as wire, ties, clips, and Velcro strips have also been used. These techniques, however, do not cover the wires that extend out of the back of the shelving system. Rather, these techniques merely secure the wires in a bundle. The bundle of wires remain exposed resulting in poor aesthetic quality of the shelving system. Also in using these techniques, whenever a person wants to take a part of the electronic system out, the entire bundle of wires must be undone to retrieve the desired piece of equipment from the shelf. Once the equipment is removed, the remaining wires are resecured in a new bundle, This procedure entails a large amount of work and effort, and the end result is a visually unappealing bundle of wires.
Another approach has attempted to use plastic tubing having a circular cylindrical shape to encase the wires extending out of the back of the shelving system. This technique, however, is not visually appealing because the plastic tubing is exposed behind the shelving system and is therefore limited to use with furniture placed along a wall.
A satisfactory technique to cover the wires extending from various pieces of electronic equipment placed on a shelving system that is efficient to manufacture and is reasonably priced is presently not available. The present invention is directed at a shelving system that provides a cover for wires from electronic equipment placed upon it while eliminating safety hazards, maintaining aesthetic quality, and minimizing the effort and cost of construction.
The invention is a device for concealing cables from electronic equipment that is placed on a shelving system. The device comprises a first slot, a second slot and a cover. The first and second slots are either directly cut into the frame of the shelving system or cut into an external member which is then fastened to the frame of the shelving system. The cover has a top, a bottom, and a first and a second side. The first side of the cover is inserted into the first slot and the second side of the cover is inserted into the second slot. Once the cover is inserted into the slots, a cavity is created to contain the cables of the electronic equipment placed on the shelving system. The cover has a width from side to side that is greater than the distance between the first and the second slots causing the cover to bow and create the cavity.